


With Love, Chaeyoung

by calmwell



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, City Girl/Country Girl AU, Coming of Age, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-13 20:26:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18038405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calmwell/pseuds/calmwell
Summary: Starry-eyed, stuck at a crossroads, Chaeyoung spends what's left of her winter ruminating and helping out with menial work on a farm in Tainan. Between morning chats with Mrs Chou and picking citrus fruits with Mr Chou, Chaeyoung quickly becomes infatuated with their pragmatic daughter, Tzuyu.  Amid mini dictionaries and lazy days around the farm, Tzuyu finds fire and solace in her breath of fresh air. But kisses on dirt paths and lakeside affections are threatened with the arrival of Spring.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Updates switch between letters from Chaeyoung and third-person shorts.

It's warmer here. Not too warm, but much warmer than back in Seoul.   

And the mountains and hills. So many mountains, more than I've ever seen in my life. All of them covered with a healthy blanket of green. So untouched, so indifferent to mankind. 

I passed by ranges of hills and reservoirs on the 4-hour-long journey here. Slept on the train a bit, so I apparently missed a near-complete rainbow this little girl who sat beside me kept raving about. Other than that, the bus ride to the nearby village's bridge was fairly uneventful. Peaceful. 

You can find it here. Lots of peace and quiet.  I like it here, and I feel like you would too. 

I had to walk for 30 minutes from the bus stop to get to the farm, but I can't complain. The air's so fresh and it's so breezy here. I wish I could bottle up some air to send to you but I've barely brought enough cash for my stay as is. I know, I know. I should've listened to you and brought more money. 

I like the family I'm staying with. They're adorable. I was a little late (as per usual), but they stood outside their house like they're posing for a cute family picture, the three of them. Mr Chou immediately took my bags to my room and went back to work relatively quickly so I didn't get the chance to speak to him, but Mrs Chou's very friendly. 

We speak in English - it's the language we have in common. We're both not too good at it, but we manage. 

But, yes, very friendly. We spent an hour talking over a table her son had made when he was 17 and still living here. She told me about the area, what there is to do, how I'll be helping them in the mornings, her family, the farm,  their pets, the neighbours 10 minutes away. Everything under the sun. She lapses into using Chinese sometimes, but I make guesses with her large hand gestures. She's a vibrant woman. 

Her daughter is another story. Tzuyu, I think, is how you spell her name. I can't pronounce it too well, especially the "Tzu" part. She says my name pretty well, soft-spoken as she may be. But boy does she not say much. Not even in Chinese, so it can't be just a language barrier thing. 

She seems lovely though.

Very polite, very gentle in everything she does, and she's got a very sincere, sweet smile. Okay, I'll admit it. When I first saw them standing outside the house, my eyes were drawn to her. Can you blame me? You know me. I'm a sucker for cute girls. 

Tzuyu's pretty.

She's got a profile that I'd love to draw. But I'm not going to go into poetics. She's going to show me around today, and apparently, I'm going to help her carry some stuff back from a warehouse on the way back. My first job for them. 

This letter's getting too long. I'll attach a [photo](https://imgur.com/a/v6advUQ) of my room to spare you my "convoluted" descriptions of it. It's slightly small, bare, but I have the basics. An alright bed, a closet, a table, a window with a view. The bathroom's shared but Tzuyu's been understanding with my ultra-long showers. 

I think I'll be able to sort myself out by the end of March. I'll keep sending you letters till then, though, so be prepared for more rambling. 

  
_With Love, Chaeyoung_  


	2. January 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "She's going to show me around today, and apparently, I'm going to help her carry some stuff back from a warehouse on the way back."

A knock came, at the door, that woke Chaeyoung up from her mid-afternoon nap.

  
Wiping the sleep away as she yawned and stretched, Chaeyoung ambled to the bare wood door before another flurry of knocks came through. She noted the distinct pattern in the knock - tap-tap, tap, tap-tap, tap.

  
"Coming!" she yelled, in a language she was still getting accustomed to speaking, and pulled her flannel shirt from the coat rack to drape over her shoulders.

  
With another yawn, she opened the door to find Tzuyu with her hand raised, midway to giving the now ajar door another knock.

  
"Tour?"

  
Chaeyoung cocked her head to the side and lightly kicked at the door to signal for Tzuyu to step in. Tzuyu entered the guest room with slight hesitation, choosing to stay by her bedside and rub circles into the floor with her foot.

  
"Ah!"

  
Her eyebrows raised, all lethargy absent from her system, Chaeyoung scrambled to rummage through her pile of belongings that readily built over the circular desk. She pulled her father's polaroid camera from the mess and twirled around to show it to Tzuyu.

  
"Take picture?" she asked.

  
Open-mouthed, Tzuyu looked to the camera, then to Chaeyoung, and took a breath to tease at a reply. A moment later, she chose to nod instead, the corners of her lips beginning to curl into a smile. Chaeyoung let out a chuckle at the purity stitched in her expression.

  
She clutched the camera with both hands and began to walk to the door, gesturing for them to leave with a tilt of her head.

  
"Wait," Tzuyu said, in a language that Chaeyoung could not understand, and thus could not obey. Tzuyu raised a hand, barely an inch away from touching Chaeyoung's shoulder. Chaeyoung paused in her tracks

.  
"Heavy." Fairly awkwardly, Tzuyu flicked her wrist and tapped at her own shoulder. "Bag? Camera. Bag."

  
"Camera... bag?"

  
There came a beat of silence as something clicked in Tzuyu's head, and she gave the tiniest shrug before bending down to mime picking up what looked like a big box.

  
"Heavy," she added. "Need bag."

  
Chaeyoung let out a breath of air, an almost laugh, and nodded; she thought it heartening to know that the mouse of a girl was warming up to her. She lifted her tote which hung from the window handle and stuffed the cream-colored device in it. And picked the mini dictionary that lay untouched beside her pillow to pack it in as well, for good measure.

  
As she walked past Tzuyu to head outside, Chaeyoung examined the girl in her baggy Kaohsiung University sweatshirt (courtesy of her brother, possibly) and dirt-stained work pants. In doing so, she noticed how Tzuyu had examined her too.

  
There was intrigue in her eyes and the ghost of a smile that decided to stay. And not a word followed as both exited the room and waved goodbye to a preoccupied Mrs. Chou cutting vegetables in the outdated kitchen.

  
A boy around their age greeted them as soon as they headed out to the main path. Lanky, tan, dressed in an immaculate polo shirt uncharacteristic for the men in the area, he carried a little white-and-brown dog - a chihuahua, probably - with a slight foolish smile. 

  
The boy didn't pay any mind to Chaeyoung, choosing to instigate a conversation with Tzuyu with a glimmer in his eyes. Tzuyu didn't pay any mind to him. She nodded after each sentence and spared him a smile or two, and brought the dog in his arms into hers to give its forehead a kiss. 

  
Whatever was said between the two hadn't lasted long enough to confuse Chaeyoung. The boy's confidence visibly dimmed after Tzuyu let her dog jump from her arms and run into the fields. She knew that Tzuyu had said something to finally silence him once she felt the girl send a shiver up her spine in the form of a simple touch to her back.   
It ushered her forward, down the road, and they bid the boy farewell with relief a tad too apparent in their faces. 

  
Sneakers kicked the dirth path as they hiked down and through humid, verdant slopes and plantations. These and the chirps of crickets and the squawks of birds occupied their soundscape. Chaeyoung appreciated the air of silence that Tzuyu carried. 

  
Not that Chaeyoung was vexed when she ultimately did speak. 

  
"No Korean," she said as she pointed back to the direction of her house. "No Korean... Visitor?" 

  
On the contrary, Chaeyoung thought that everything about Tzuyu was welcome; pretty, down to the way she spoke. Though, she did find her speech in her native tongue more soothing to hear. She found that it conveyed more meaning. She couldn't decipher it, but she just knew. 

  
"I'm Korean." 

  
Tzuyu could only laugh at Chaeyoung's incredulity. 

  
"I know you are Korean. Sorry. I... house no Korean visitor before."

  
Tzuyu looked frazzled as they avoided stones on the path, and she shook her head at herself and brushed her ponytail with unsteady fingers. At last, after a few moments of oddly comfortable silence, Tzuyu turned to her once more.

  
"Why?"

  
Chaeyoung could tell that there was more to the question than surface-level small talk, so she pulled her dictionary out from her tote and flipped through its pages.

  
She didn't utter a sound and, as they stopped in their tracks barely a stone's throw away from a collection of low-rise residences and shops and small warehouses, Chaeyoung gently pushed the thick book to Tzuyu. And Tzuyu took the dictionary in her hands, and she scanned the line where Chaeyoung had rested her thumb along.

  
"Reflection," she said, in her own native tongue, after having read the only characters she could recognize in a sea of hieroglyphs.  
"Reflection," Chaeyoung repeated, firmly and in Korean, her gaze soft and focused on the bemused look on Tzuyu's face.

  
"Okay."

  
Without warning, Tzuyu pressed her hand flush against Chaeyoung's back, and let her touch linger for a second too long before pushing her forth yet again.

  
"That is cafe."

  
The taller girl motioned to a slightly run-down establishment - rain-damaged, open-air, vernacular architecture, dotted with small groups of elderly locals who sat on plastic chairs and rambled loudly over tea or coffee.

  
It wouldn't be a wild guess to assume that Tzuyu had started to walk to the counter because of the way Chaeyoung traced the coffee shop with fascination hinted at by her widening smile.

  
"Ah!"

  
Chaeyoung stuffed her dictionary back into her bag to pull the camera from it, and hastily snapped a picture of Tzuyu and the charming scene surrounding her just as the girl had signalled for coffees for both of them.

  
The loudening of the sound of Tzuyu's feet against gravel brought Chaeyoung's attention from the polaroid image that slowly manifested in yellowed shades to the flimsy paper cups in Tzuyu's hand. Chaeyoung tossed the photo in her bag, took one, and avoided the questioning stare in Tzuyu's eyes with a sheepish smile.

  
"Picture?"

  
Chaeyoung looked back up and sipped from the cup full of thick, milky coffee. Its form shielded Tzuyu's eyes from piercing straight into her own, and thus shielded her from needing to explain why it felt like such a gut instinct to capture Tzuyu in that moment.

  
"Yeah... picture."

  
Her words were muffled by the coffee, yet it didn't stop Tzuyu from noting it and taking a step closer, startling Chaeyoung from her abruptness.

  
"Can... look?" 


End file.
